Hi,
Im going to go look at a 2003 yz 85 tonight its a X race bike.What should i look for?Ive never looked at a 2 smoke before,Can you guys give me some advice?and its 1200.00 is that a good deal?It comes with 2 seats,2 fmf pipes and other misk stuff,and the engine has a new ring.Thanks

Ask the guy what previous maintance has been done to it and if you can ride it.

Idk my friend had a 03 it was worn out, and it was an x race bike.

The 07 CR's are selling for $1799 OTD, and they are a much better bike.

That sounds like a fiar price. If it is in good shape anyway.

By the sounds of it, the bike has been raced (2 seats, 2 pipes, etc). The good thing with a 2 stroke is that most of the components can be easily replaced and for a decent price.

If I were you, I would ask to ride it and listen to the tranny and lowerend for any weird sounds. And play a little CSI if you will and look at the bike's frame, subframe, wheels, etc to see if it really been ragged out. And don't forget to look around the garage as you can get pretty good feel for what maint. schedule the bike may have been on, and if they race on an pretty regular schedule.

Good Luck - seem like a fair price. However, if it were me I would look for an RM 85

fear this said:

First of many things. 85's are usually ragged out, because by the time the
younger kids have learned on the smaller bikes then progress to 85, they

know how to ride and tear the bike up. Unlike the 65 or smaller bikes. With that said, it will be harder for you to find a clean 85, or one that is in great

shape, without paying for it. Second is that for an 03 it seems to be on the higher side at $1200.00. Yes it comes with additional stuff, but let me lend

my opinion on that. That is another way to tell if the bike has been raced/ridden hard, because it has all this stuff. Now I don't know the level of

the rider your shopping for, but I will tell you that if it is for your son I would pay more money for it, but buy a newer bike. They usually are more

dependable, safer,and with technology easier to ride. You didn't say anything about a piston either. The problem is if the bike has been ridden hard and

has had a few top ends put on it, a lot of the times probably nothing has done to the bottom end. Maybe a bad crank or bearings, you never know. I would definitly take your time and look. Take some tools and take off the seat and look at the filter. Take a look at the front sprocket. Many times people will put on a new chain but not sprockets, especially the front one. (make sure it's not cupped out) I would ride it. Just recently I looked at a bike for my son. 2006 RM 85 and he wanted good money. It looked good but I figured that because it looked good and he wanted good money, also said he hardly rode it, that the bike was in great condition. Well it looked great, but he wanted $1600.00. I really took my time. Turned the bike over on it's side to look at the frame on both sides, and underneath, put the bike on a stand off the ground which I had to ask him if he had a crate, because it had a regular stand. (Take a crate just in case so you can lift the bike off the ground) Check the wheel bearings for side play. Wheel off the ground and move wheel side to side to check free play. Do it with the front as well. With the wheels off the ground spin the wheels and look at the rotors. When I did this with the RM I found that the pads were almost gone and both rotors were bent. Now I didn't notice that the rotors were bent until I rode it and something felt funny. Thats when I looked with the bike off the ground and spun the wheels and saw it. Needless to say with worn out pads, bearings, bent rotors, ect. I didn't but the bike. Oh it looked good though. I would have been ripped off. I didn't tell you but I drained a tiny bit of oil and it was black black. Most people wont let you do this but I had told him that I was an experienced racer, which I am. No I have kind of skipped around, so I hope I haven't lost you. I ended up buying a brand new bike for my boy after looking at 10 ragged out bikes. I paid 2800.00 for me son's new YZ85, really a difference of 1200. But now I don't have to worry about engine problems, wheel bearings, brakes w/ pads, ect. If you are not careful you could have more time, energy, and headache, than its worth. If you buy a bike like this and have to put a lot of money in it, then you end up with a nice 03 that you could of bought an 08 for or 07. I would try to find a 1 year old bike that is all original that hasn't been ridden much. I hope this helps Goodluck Wes.

I agree with everyone on here as to make sure you check it out thoroughly. Make sure it has good compression, listen to it run, ride it, and check it over for additional wear and cracks in the frame. In my opinion, those that race seriously have a tendency to maintain their bike better. Not always, but if they race you can almost guarantee they go through and replace almost everything atleast once a year. But if you can get a good deal, which I think $1200 is a pretty good deal as long as the bike isn't a turd. You can pretty much replace everything for about $500. That includes crank, clutch, chain and sprockets, plastic, brake pads and wheel bearings. I checked Yamaha of Troy just to make sure on those prices. I especially would start out with a used bike if your son or daughter is just starting out. Less money invested if they decide they don't like it. Anyway that's my .02 worth.

MxWFO said:

I do agree with the used at first. My boys loves it so much and that's why we went with a new one. Now we don't have all of the time to ride either, which was my biggest concern. If we finally get a chance to ride and then the bike doesn't run or has a problem, then it wasn't worth the $1200. I paid for it. I just dont have that problem now, not that there won't be. Knock on wood. I do think that to replace everything including crank for $500 is low. At best that would be only parts for engine then you would labor to put it in.

Agree with everything stated above, ride it and give it - there's a good chance that this in itself will tell you a lot - a dying 85 is going to show many of it's problems trying to move a 180-200lb man .
If it seems to move you fine and feels tight, then go ahead and check it over.
This is how i bought my son's 2002 KX65 - rode it first - passed the "man" test, so then I dove in and spent a good half hour tearing into it.
He got through this past year with nothing more than a number of oil changes and a good share in Sunoco!
Remember, plastics and paint are visual so even if it looks rough, it may still be solid - my son's was rough in the paint dep't - we fixed that cheaply this winter, also dropped in a wiseco piston and clutch because he'll be racing next summer with it and I didn't want problems during the season - the parts that came out were mint, so I put it all in boxes and stored it in case it's needed at some point.
Brake pads are cheap, rotors aren't, tires are cheap, rims aren't - you probably know the drill.

I got a pretty good calculator in my head, so I just rack it all up while going over the bike, throw in another 200 for Misc. crap you may have overlooked and you'll get a good idea of fix up costs, if you're not scared off at this point, it'll help you bargain more if you also know what the fix up cost is going to set you back.

That is parts only. Aside from the crank everything shouldn't require any labor costs. That will run the bill up. I do all my own bike work and sometimes forget to figure in cost of labor. Sorry about that.

fear this said:

A different bike.

fear this said:

You'll need a new ring after that nightmare. If you know what I mean.

You just need to look things over.

Our YZ85 is a 2002 that had been a race bike. Paid $1150 for it.

But it had two tires in good shape, a new top end, and suspension work. Everything checked out pretty well.

It is going to need rear wheel bearings in a bit but what 6 year old bike doesn't right?

I would not pay more than about $800 in nice shape..

MxWFO said:

I do my own work too and I knew that, but some people don't. Good job.:thumbsup: